Discussion Questions for Wednesday, September 21 - Friday, September 23
After reading the questions below and deciding which one(s) you want to respond to (you're expected to respond once every three classes, on average), click on the appropriate thread to write your response as a reply. If you have not yet registered an account with wikispaces and requested to join this site, you will need to do so to post a response (see the How to Wiki page for instructions).
NOTE: Only answer if you are responding BEFORE seeing How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. The film we will be starting to watch in class on Wednesday, September 21, based on the Broadway play of the same name, falls into the genre of "musical comedy." By "genre," we mean the particular forms of discipline (or "ludus," in Caillois's sense) that a type of play imposes on itself, balanced with the particular forms of playful license ("paidia") that a type of play allows itself. We saw, for example, how Anna Deavere Smith's style of "verbatim theater" implied a whole host of "shoulds" vs. "coulds" with respect to dialogue, costume, setting, tone, casting, actor preparation, audience preparation, and the use of non-play media such as projected slides, documentary video footage, music, etc. Based on your experience of seeing other musicals, what expectations might you have for what How to Succeed is supposed to do (and is allowed to do) as an example of the genre? How do you expect its "rules" and "license" concerning casting, costume, etc. will compare to Smith's verbatim theater?
NOTE: Only answer if you are responding AFTER seeing How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. The film we started to watch in class on Wednesday, September 21, based on the Broadway play of the same name, falls into the genre of "musical comedy." By "genre," we mean the particular forms of discipline (or "ludus," in Caillois's sense) that a type of play imposes on itself, balanced with the particular forms of playful license ("paidia") that a type of play allows itself. We saw, for example, how Anna Deavere Smith's style of "verbatim theater" implied a whole host of "shoulds" vs. "coulds" with respect to dialogue, costume, setting, tone, casting, actor preparation, audience preparation, and the use of non-play media such as projected slides, documentary video footage, music, etc. Based on your experience of seeing other musicals, how closely did How to Succeed meet your expectations for what an example of the genre is supposed to do (or is allowed to do)? In what ways did it break the genre's rules, cheat on them, or even work to change the rules?
Which form of theater more closely matches Huizinga's definition and characteristics of play: musical comedy or verbatim theater? Be sure to quote from Huizinga in your response, and be sure to cite particular supporting instances and examples from Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying.
After reading the questions below and deciding which one(s) you want to respond to (you're expected to respond once every three classes, on average), click on the appropriate thread to write your response as a reply. If you have not yet registered an account with wikispaces and requested to join this site, you will need to do so to post a response (see the How to Wiki page for instructions).